Trimming and edging around lawn sprinkler heads is typically a time-consuming and tedious task. Grass surrounding a sprinkler head is often thick. Eventually, it may grow over the sprinkler head and impede operation. Frequent edging is required to provide a landscaped appearance and to permit sprinklers to operate properly.
Landscapers conventionally perform such edging either manually using scissors or shears or mechanically using conventional motorized grass trimming devices. Manual edging is extremely tedious, inefficient and impractical when a large number of sprinkler heads are involved, such as on a golf course. A golf course may have 800 to 1000 sprinkler heads. Concomitantly, golf courses place a premium on aesthetics and carefully manicured greens. Manual cutting is not conducive to a uniform, precise, repeatable and aesthetically pleasing cut.
While more efficient than scissors, conventional motorized trimmers that use a spinning cord are not conducive to a uniform, precise and aesthetically pleasing cut. Often they result in a scorched (i.e., extremely low cut) turf and a noticeably uneven cut due to bouncing of the cutting device off the surface of the ground. Additionally, such trimmers must be manipulated around the entire periphery of the sprinkler head, still making the job quite tedious. Furthermore, the cutting cords of such trimmers frequently break, especially after repeated contact with sprinkler heads, incurring additional time and cost for replacement. Moreover, such devices have a tendency to damage yardage markers commonly placed on sprinkler heads in golf courses and mar the contacted surfaces of the sprinkler heads.
While motorized rotary cutters have been developed for edging around sprinkler heads, these devices typically have a flimsy, unbalanced non-adjustable construction that does not adequately protect the sprinkler head. Though quicker and more efficient than scissors and conventional motorized trimmers, such devices still suffer many shortcomings. They tend to break easily, bounce upon contacting the sprinkler head, produce an off-centered non-uniform cut, damage yardage markers on sprinkler heads and mar the contacted surfaces of the sprinkler heads. Additionally, such devices typically do not provide adjustability to readily accommodate various sized sprinkler heads.
Thus, a device is needed to produce a centered, uniform, repeatable cut for edging around sprinkler heads, without marring or damaging the sprinkler heads or yardage markers on them. Such a device should also be adjustable to accommodate various sized sprinkler heads. Moreover, for economy, the device should be adaptable as an attachment to existing landscaping equipment.